Retrieval of mail from rural mailboxes presents difficulty to the driver of a vehicle in that a long and awkward reach to the back of the box may be required. In the case of smaller standard sizes of mailbox made in accordance with standards of the United States Postal Service, larger pieces of mail such as magazines and catalogs tend to become lodged against sides of the box so that they do not slide out freely but require manipulation for their removal. In the process of loosening such pieces of mail, smaller pieces such as letters may fall to the ground, requiring the driver of the vehicle to step out of the vehicle to retrieve them. Various approaches to providing for easier retrieval of mail from mailboxes are disclosed in prior art patents. U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,192, issued Dec. 22, 1987, to Harlow et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,758, issued Feb. 23, 1977, to Bonner; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,140, issued Sept. 20, 1987, to Shanahan, disclose use of slidable mail-holding trays that may be pulled forward when the door is open to bring the mail within reach. Extendible, forwardly-sliding components that are nested or telescoped within a mailbox are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,163,356, issued Dec. 29, 1964, to Joehnk; U.S. Pat. No. 2,718,964, issued Feb. 19, 1957, to Ledgewood; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,992,640, issued Feb. 26, 1935, to Steen. U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,520, issued July 10, 1979, to Cluthe, shows a mailbox having a slidable tray within the enclosure and a transverse hinge spaced a considerable distance away from the front of the box. Upon sliding the tray until the hinge reaches the front end of the box, the door, and the front part of the tray which is integral with the door, are tiltable downward. The devices disclosed in these patents exhibit disadvantages in their complexity and varying degrees of incompatibility with standard rural mailboxes. Mailbox posts that are made into sections joined by a strong spring are known in the prior art such as shown in "Builder's Square" sales catalog, February 1990, at page 18. The "spring-back" post shown therein is not suitable for being forward by hand for retrieving mail but rather is made to enable the post to yield and spring back when hit by an automobile bumper. A handle for pulling the box forward is not shown or suggested for use in combination with such post.
My co-pending application Ser. No. 398,914, filed Aug. 28, 1989, is directed to a mailbox assembly which includes a horizontally disposed mail-supporting member which may be the bottom of the box itself or an insertable tray. The mail-supporting member is arranged to be tilted around a transverse axis so that the rear thereof will be placed at an elevated position with respect to the front, causing the mail to slide downward and outward into a mail-catching wall associated with the mailbox door. Mailboxes embodying this invention are effective for larger sized boxes, but for smaller sizes, in particular, the most widely used smallest size of rural mailbox, the sliding motion required to propel the mail downward and outward into the catching area may be defeated by the lodging of larger mail articles against sides of the box, thus requiring reaching into the box to retrieve such articles. It is desired to provide a mailbox assembly so constructed as to allow the front end of the box to be brought into position inside an open window of an automobile vehicle, with the box rear end higher than the front so that smaller pieces of mail will slide downward into the car and larger pieces may be readily removed by the driver or passenger in the vehicle without undue reaching or stepping out of the car.